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Friday, February 3, 2012

Goofy Tasting Room @ Sonoma Square

GlenLyon Vineyards and Winery and Two Amigos are two labels from the same winery as far as I can tell. They share the same tasting room and their websites are very similar. They take the seriousness out of wine and have the goofy wine labels to match their view. The tasting room attendant was a jovial man who was very knowledgeable about the wine and the winery. They have a big screen TV that is playing video blogs of the winemakers wearing the classic gag glasses with fake nose and bushy brows. The tasting room is very spacious and is just off of Sonoma Square and one door from Haywood Estate.

The 2009 Vito's Vino Bianco ($20) is 100% Roussanne was very light and had floral aromas of which was honeysuckle led the pack. The honeysuckle and floral aromas carried through to the palate where they were joined by honey and hints of melon. The wine had a short finish with increased accents of honeydew. It exhibited a light-medium body. This was my 2nd favorite of the room.

The 2010 Blush o' the Boar ($24) is a rosé in a bottle that looks like it was designed by a pop artist from the 80s. The wine was a a pinkish tawny color and smelled like strawberries and maple. On the tongue it had notes of strawberry and raspberry cobbler. It had a semi crisp finish.

There were two Chardonnays, one was oaked with 100% malolactic fermentation while the other was kept in stainless steel tanks and did not undergo malolactic fermentation. Once again I very rarely like Chardonnays so I didn't bother writing up notes for these, but I know that some of my readers love Chardonnays so I left this information in.

Guido's Vino Rosso ($26) is a Sangiovese sourced from Santa Barbara County with aromas of strawberries, cherries, licorise, and herbs. The cherries and herbaceousness continues onto the palate. It is a light bodied red.

The GlenLyon "Squire's Toast" ($46) is a Syrah and Cab Sauvignon blend from Glen Ellen has a clown on the label. So even their upper tier wines are still goofy. The aromas were of tar and tobacco which probably came from the 100% "wild" yeast fermentation. On the palate there was white pepper, cherry, plum, and a slight vegetative complexity. The tannins started off soft, but turned into a rough astringency on the long spicy finish. This was my favorite wine that I tried at their tasting room.

My least favorite wine was the GlenLyon Estate Port ($34/375mL) which is made from Syrah grapes. Normally I love ports, but this didn't do it for me. Probably because it was Syrah grapes. I don't think I've found a Syrah based port that I like (same goes for Late Harvest Zins), but to each their own, I guess.

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About My Blog

Nothing makes me crave good wine more than drinking flawed wine. So I'll try to steer you towards the delicious and away from the swill.

This is a blog about exploring the wide world of wine. I live in Northern California so most of the wines in this will be Californian, but I do like to travel and try new things so there will be sporadic libations from all over.